Street families are likely to easily acquire AIDS. They also are at the risk of spreading the disease fast compared to other people.
Most of the street children use drugs which are dangerous to their health. Most of the young street females conceive at a very early age. To these families, family planning is just a word which they say does not exist in their vocabulary. They engage in unprotected sex frequently. Getting pregnant is not an issue, at least, for them. However, they seem to know little about AIDS.
Speaking at the DC Market, Kyla Mulati, a medical student at Kenya Medical and Training Institute (KMTC) said the street children should be educated on the dangers of having unprotected sex because it can lead to them getting infected and eventually dying because they won't be able to afford treatment.
''Most of the street families use drugs. They usually inject the drugs into their bodies and share the needle amongst themselves. To them, they see it as helping one another but the reality is that these people are spreading different diseases unknowingly,'' said Mulati.
She also urged the county government of Nairobi to conduct an HIV test to any street family member to help them identify who is an AIDS victim and start giving them ARVs.